Perfect Presentations - How to deliver a perfect presentation in English
Of course a good knowledge of grammar, varied and relevant vocabulary and practiced pronunciation are all essential ingredients when preparing a presentation and your teacher here at Rype can help with that.
You will need to learn chunks of language to structure your presentation and signal when you are moving from one section to the next. Pay attention to your pronunciation, enunciation, and speed of speech as this will greatly impact your audience. In today’s international business environment this is more important than ever.
So delivering a good presentation in English, and indeed in any language, boils down to what you know about people. Detailed below are some keys pieces of information about people to help you give that perfect presentation and impact your audience in a positive way.
Short and sweet
People learn best in 20-minute chunks. People enjoy themselves more, learn and retain more in 20-minute chunks. This is why TED videos are so successful. So if your presentation goes on for a longer period of time, have pauses for questions or break it up into smaller chunks of 20 minutes using clear signals that each part is coming to an end.
Don’t overload the senses
Multiple sensory channels compete. During a talk, you engage both the auditory and visual channels. We’re visual creatures and the visual channel beats the auditory channel. Make sure your slides don’t require people to read too much. When your audience is reading, they’re not listening.
It’s not what you say, but how you say it
What you say is only one part of your message. People make very quick unconscious decisions about other people. Paralinguistics explores how information is communicated beyond the words you say — be aware the audience is responding to your body language and tone. Record yourself presenting to get a feel for both and adjust accordingly.
Call to action
If you want people to act, you have to call them to action. At the end of your presentation, be very specific about exactly what you would like your audience to do and what the next steps they need to take are.
Let your passion show
People will imitate your emotions and feel your feelings. People copy what they see. If you’re passionate about your topic, your audience picks up on that and will be infected by your passion too. Don’t hold back!
If you follow these general tips your presentations will stand out and people will respond in the way that you want them to and remember what you said.
The most important aspect being what the audience take away with them, what they have understood and having clear indicators of what the next steps are.
April 3, 2018
